Video: Monte Shakedown by Best of Rally Live, wooooo!

That’s it! No more white cars, no more testing, no more predicting, announcing, previewing… the cars and crews were out there today and we can now finally say that the new season is underway. Even though first proper special stages were not on the menu today, shakedown was, and that is more than enough to get us all hyped up. Volkswagen, Citroën, M-Sport and Hyundai stormed a short shakedown stage during several runs, and you can be sure fans loved it.

Sebastien Ogier was fastest, 1.2 seconds ahead of two Citroën drivers, Kris Meeke and Mads Ostberg who both set the same best time on this stage. Talk about starting the season on a high note, both of them. Jari-Matti Latvala was fourth, followed closely by Robert Kubica, who was 1 tenth slower than JML and 1 tenth faster than Thierry Neuville.

Michelin’s Best of Rally Live prepared a brief yet nice video report from the shakedown and I cannot express how happy I am to see those machines and their crews doing what they do best. Special welcome goes to Hyundai – it’s so nice to see those cars in action with the rest of them finally.